DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE. 381 



sugar and made into sweetmeats. a In Fiji the natives use graters of mushroom coral 

 (Fungia) . As formerly made by the Fijians the starch was frequently of a grayish 

 color, owing to the fact that the tubers were not first peeled and the starch was not 

 sufficiently washed. When it became an article of export from the Fiji Islands 

 the natives were taught to prepare it more carefully. For their own use they did 

 not dry it but buried it in the ground, wrapped in leaves, so that it might ferment 

 after the manner of breadfruit. b In Samoa the fresh starch is always used for past- 

 ing together the thin layers of beaten bark of the paper mulberry ( Broussonetia 

 papyri/era) in making tapa, or "siapo," as bark cloth is there called. In Guam it 

 is used for starching clothes and for making sweetmeats called "bunuelos." The 

 root itself is not used as a vegetable. 



As a food for invalids the arrowroot made from Tacca is said to be superior to all 

 others. " It is invaluable when taken in cases of dysentery and diarrhea." b 



From the petioles and flower scapes the natives of Tahiti get an excellent straw for 

 braiding hats, which they prepare by splitting into narrow strips, curing, and drying. 

 Hats made from this straw were purchased by the officers of the U. S. S. Mohican in 

 1886. They were white and glossy and of light weight. It is said that the late Queen 

 Victoria had a bonnet made of this material. & 



The plant is found growing wild in Guam and is also cultivated. It is widely 

 spread in Polynesia, and is found in Australia, the German colonies in the Solomon 

 Islands and Bismarck Archipelago, and in the East Indies. The natives of the 

 island of Cheduba, on the coast of Burma, make arrowroot from it; but on the neigh- 

 boring mainland it is not utilized. c In the State of Travancore, near the southern 

 point of India, the plant is cultivated and forms an important article of trade. The 

 root here grows to a large size, and is much eaten by the natives, who mix with it 

 agreeable acids to overcome its pungency. d 

 References: 



Tacca pinnatifida Forst. Char. Gen. 70. t. 35. 1776. 

 Taeniophyllum fasciola. Orchid. 



Family Orchidaceae. 

 Local names. — Kamuke nanofe (Guam); Uramaore (Tahiti). 



A small stemless, epiphytal orchid, with the habit of Polyrrhiza, apparently leafless 

 after the first growth; roots flattened, fasciculate, interlaced; leaves 2 or 3 or absent, 

 linear, fleshy, veinless; peduncle radical, filiform; flowers very minute, spicate; sepals 

 and petals nearly alike, together with lip connate in a 6-toothed perianth; lip boat- 

 shaped, the margins free, fleshy, the base produced into a saccate spur; dorsal side 

 of spur continuing the base of the column; column very short, broad, foot lacking; 

 anther 2-celled, pollinia 4, in superposed pairs, pyriform, waxy, sessile on the gland; 

 adventitious roots spreading, flexuose, elongate, and lying flat on the bark of the 

 tree on which the plant grows, 20 cm. long and 2 to 3 mm. wide. Flowers green, 

 soft, minute, not conspicuous. 



Collected in Guam by Gauclichaud and by him called Vanilla fasciola. This plant 

 occurs also in the Society Islands and in Fiji. e In Endlicher's Flora der Siidseeinseln 

 it is called Limodorwm fasciola. f 

 References: 



Taeniophyllum fasciola (Forst. f. ) Reichenb. f. in Seem. Fl. Vit. 296. 1868. 

 Epidendrurn fasciola Forst. f. Prod. 60. 1786. 

 Vanilla fasciola Gaudich. Bot. Freyc. Voy. 427. 1826. 



« Blanco, Flora de Filipinas, p. 262, 1837. 

 &Seemann, Flora Vitiensis, p. 101, 1865-1873. 



c Williams, On the Farina of the Tacca pinnatifida, Pharmaceutical Journ. and 

 Trans., vol. 6, p. 383, 1846-1847. 



d Drurv, Useful Plants of India, p. 423, 1858. 

 « Seemann, Flora Vitiensis, p. 296, 1865-1873. 

 /Ann. des Wiener Museums, vol. 1, p. 163, 1836. 



